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INVESTIGATION: CPD discplinary process flawed

Posted: 10:17 PM, Dec 08, 2015

Updated:2015-12-09 03:17:00Z

By:
Sarah Buduson

newsnet5.com and NewsChannel 5 have spent a year investigating the Cleveland Division of Police. “Road to Reform” — an hour-long documentary and this accompanying web series — is the culmination of that investigation.

Nationally-known police accountability expert weighs in

“If you have bad officers who are not getting disciplined, it undermines the morale of the good officers. They don’t want to work with these people,” he said.

“It has a terrible effect on the culture. It says you can do these things and keep your job,” he said.

It has a terrible effect on the culture. It says you can do these things and keep your job.

Walker has studied police accountability for 40 years and written 14 books on civil liberties, policing, and criminal justice policy.

He testified before the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and submitted written testimony to the Ohio Task Force on Police-Community Relations earlier this year.

“If you have officers on the force who have been convicted of crimes, that’s pretty bad. That’s a really bad sign. I mean, they should be gone,” he said.

“Somebody with alcohol and drug history – that person should not be working as a police officer,” he said.

“It really degenerates the professional standards in the department . . . degrades the reputation of the department in the community, there’s all sorts of bad effects,” he said.

“It means the people of Cleveland are not getting good service,” he said.

“All of those things say the people in charge are not doing what they should be doing,” he said.

Fired officers allowed to return to work

When CPD does fire an officer, we found it often doesn’t stick.

Between 2010 and 2014, records obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigators show seven officers filed grievances with an arbitrator after they were fired.

Shani Hannah

In six of the seven cases, the arbitrators gave the officers their jobs back, including Shani Hannah.

Hannah was convicted of assault after she stabbed her boyfriend in the arms and legs during a drunken fight.

An arbitrator also ruled Sgt. Michael Donegan should have his job back. Donegan is the only officer who has been fired for his actions during the November 2012 CPD police chase and shooting that left two people dead.

Three years after the incident, the city is still determining whether the 13 officers who fired 137 shots during the shooting will face discipline, including Michael Brelo.

A judge found Brelo not guilty of voluntary manslaughter charges in May.

Walker said arbitration, which is used by police departments around the country to appeal administrative rulings, can undermine discipline.

“It’s almost inherent in the arbitration process that the arbitrator wants to ‘split the baby’ – give each side a little something. If it’s a termination, the officer’s going to get their job back,” he said.

Justice delayed

NewsChannel 5 Investigators also uncovered a case where officers who should have been fired were allowed to keep their jobs.

On a busy July 4 weekend in 2011, Officer Matthew Craska left his assigned patrol area to pick up his friend, off-duty police officer David Mindek.

On a mission to find missing jewelry, the pair headed to Daniel Ficker’s home on Wareham Drive in Parma.

Once there, Mindek accused Ficker of stealing some of his wife’s necklaces during a party at Mindek’s home earlier in the day.

An internal document obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigators shows city officials struck a deal with the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association to delay discipline until a civil lawsuit filed by Ficker’s family is settled.

Craska and Mindek have since resigned from the department.

The family’s lawsuit against the officers and the city is ongoing.

“They never should have been at my house that night,” said Urbach about the officers.

Urbach and Ficker shared two young children. She said she struggles to explain why he is absent to teachers and friends.

“It’s torture,” she said.

“It’s just a whole different life that we’re living now,” she said.

CPD reforms now underway

CPD's issues with officer accountability and consistent discipline could soon be coming to an end.

In June, a federal judge approved a consent decree between the City of Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice calling for massive reforms, including the appointment of an independent monitor.

The independent monitor will oversee changes, including an annual review of all disciplinary decisions made by the Chief of Police and Public Safety Director.

The consent decree also calls for the creation of a Police Inspector General, who will also oversee disciplinary decisions involving CPD officers.

The police department is also required to create a new disciplinary matrix to ensure discipline is “consistently applied, fair and based on the nature of the allegation.”

“This is really a tremendous opportunity,” said Walker.

“It’s really a historic moment and the question is, ‘Will Cleveland seize that moment or not?’ ” he said.